CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt released 900 members of an Islamic militant group that killed 58 tourists in 1997 and helped plot the murder of president Anwar Sadat, security sources said on Tuesday.

Analysts said that freeing so many members of the outlawed al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), whose jailed leaders renounced violence six years ago, would help the movement gain a political voice and could strengthen the hand of more moderate Islamists in the Arab world's most populous country.

News of the mass release came two days after Egypt announced it had freed Karam Zuhdi, the influential head of al-Gama'a's policy-making Shura council.

The security sources said the 900 included other leaders such as Mamdouh al-Youssef as well as rank-and-file members, but were not able to say exactly when they were set free.

One of the sources saw a strong chance for other members of al-Gama'a's Shura council to be freed in the next few days.

"This shows the Egyptian government is sure now there is no threat of problems from the group. They are sure of its transformation from violence to a political group," said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamic militant groups at the Cairo-based al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Al-Gama'a's violent history stretched back for decades before jailed leaders, including Zuhdi, called for a truce in 1997, dividing the movement. Several al-Gama'a leaders were imprisoned for their role in Sadat's 1981 assassination.

The group also participated in a six-year campaign in the 1990s to overthrow Egypt's government and install an Islamist regime, and gained infamy for the murder of 58 tourists in the town of Luxor in 1997 by a faction opposed to the cease-fire.

There have been no militant attacks in Egypt since then.

Rashwan said over 5,000 al-Gama'a members had been released since the cease-fire, with human rights groups estimating that about 10,000 members remain in jail.

Egypt's official MENA news agency said on Sunday that Zuhdi was freed because he "had completed his term in prison" but also cited humanitarian reasons, saying he suffered health problems.

Analysts said it was more likely he was released to allow his more moderate views to influence budding Islamists.

They say that although Egypt's tough crackdown on militancy has wiped out the organizational capacity of Islamic groups, the Islamic world has become more radicalized since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and the U.S.-led war on terror, giving birth to a new generation of potential militants.

These men murdered or helped plan the murder of 58 tourists in 1997. I recall reading that some were shot, while others were hauled from their bus and hacked to death with swords while their friends and family watched and waited for their turns to die.

Now, the Egyptians are freeing the mastermind of this grisly act (and many other attacks), along with his minions. Note that the only support for this action cited to by the staff author is the Egyptian government-owned al-Ahram.

It's OK with me as long as they stay in Egypt. The surest sign that the War on Terror is working, is that the terrorism is occurring closer and closer to the terrorists homes. When their bombs start going off in Mecca we can all breath easier.

It appears Mubarek is getting right with a power he sees in ascension. Everything happening right now indicates somebody in the know sees the USA getting clobbered soon. Mubarek has placed his bet on the Islamists winning the war. Must be a pretty nasty attack they have planned.

Btw, the "blue" states in the '96 election (and all previous elections I can remember) were GOP states, so you might want to consider changing you username ......the media could very well go back to the old color scheme for 2004. And anyway, it's only right that Dems be designated in "Commie Red."

Normally the Western press, after such massacres as that of Luxor on November 17, 1997 explicitly try to exonerate Islam itself from responsibility for the murders. The argument usually goes something like this: "These barbarians are dishonoring a great religion, they are simply manipulating Islam for their political purposes. The real Islam advocates peace, and has nothing in common with its fundamentalist interpretation. These fanatics have arisen because the corrupt regimes supported by Western powers have forced Western secularization down their throats. Indeed, it is this more subtle, insidious, Western neo-colonialism that is responsible for the barbarous slaughter of 100,000 people in Algeria, Egypt, Afghanistan...."

How refreshing then -- nay, even revolutionary -- to read in the Egyptian daily Al Goumhouriya on the day after the massacre that the real responsibility lies with all Egyptians in general, and the religious schools in particular: "All Egyptians are responsible. It is our society which has incubated these criminals and we are their refuge since they live, hide, kill and come back amongst us. [The religious Islamic University of Al Azhar and its Koranic schools] fill the heads with Islamic teaching, which is but a kind of brain-washing," states Mahfouz al Ansari. Describing the Al Azhar and its religious schools as factories for producing extremists, Ansari also drew a direct parallel with the massacres in Algeria, and criticized the silence of the religious sheikhs.

It would be a safe bet to say most of these newly released terrorists will head off to Iraq to wage war against the "Great Satan". Egypt may be hoping the USA kills them as fast as they are killing Hamas stromtroopers and other islamic fascists in Iraq. Or Egypt may be trying to bloody our nose while still being our "Ally" and play both sides of the fence.

Every time I hear one of these militant islamo-fascist fools calling us "The Great Satan", I keep wanting to ask them if they've looked in the mirror. If they have, then they have seen the Great Satan, and it is themselves.

19
posted on 09/30/2003 11:59:17 AM PDT
by M1Tanker
(Running over what I can't shoot for 10 years)

I will be glad to get past Ramadan. With the eclipses and all it makes sense to me that they will go for the full mahdi. If something bad is about to go down you can bet that bill clinton will be out of the country.

Analysts said that freeing so many members of the outlawed al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), whose jailed leaders renounced violence six years ago, would help the movement gain a political voice and could strengthen the hand of more moderate Islamists in the Arab world's most populous country.

Most of the victims were from Switzerland, Japan, Germany, Britain, Bulgaria, Colombia and France. Authorities were still trying to identify some of the victims, and hospital sources said there were signs that the attackers had mutilated some of those killed.

"They shot everyone in the arms and legs. Then they killed everyone who was still alive with a shot to the head," said one victim, who said she survived because she was covered by the bodies of two tourists killed when her group was attacked.

Most of the victims were Swiss, and Switzerland's President Arnold Koller denounced the attack

Three Iranian immigrants arrested at Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth

By Maureen Boyle, ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER

PLYMOUTH  Three men caught with camera equipment on the grounds surrounding the nuclear power plant were arrested and interrogated by federal and local authorities.

The trio, who police say came to the United States as teenagers from Iran, were spotted at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Saturday morning walking along a restricted beach near the plant. They were arrested on trespassing charges. The men told authorities they were hiking.

"It sounded at first a little ominous," said David F. Tarantino, spokesman for Entergy, owner of the plant. "The beach is very difficult to navigate. It is not like a stroll along a sandy beach. It is a beach with big boulders and rocks. It is really a tough exercise to navigate."

The men told authorities they were touring Plymouth, he said. "They said they like to hike and they were hiking along the shore," he said.

A phone number listed to Motamedi in Taunton was disconnected and there was no listing for him in Lakeville. There was no phone listing for Ahmadi in Norton. The number of Lashgari in Quincy was nonpublished.

Plant security staff first noticed the three men as they neared the posted restricted area and stopped them when they got in, Tarantino said.

"They had been under constant surveillance," he said.

Plymouth police and the FBI were called in and digital camera equipment the men had with them was confiscated, he said.

Authorities examined all the photographs, he said. There were no known photographs of the plant taken, he said.

The men told police they parked at White Horse Beach and hiked onto the grounds. Police said the men had been in town before in the last two weeks.

Tarantino said security surrounding the plant has been increased since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. There have been several arrests of people who have crossed into the restricted area, either by land or water, he said. Those cases included a person in a kayak who landed on the beach and fishermen who strayed into restricted waters.

"Our policy is to arrest," Tarantino said of anyone who strays into the restricted area surrounding the plant.

One thing we aren't hearing about in mainstream media is death toll on the bad guys side. You hear about every GI that has a hang nail, but you don't really hear about the losses that terrorists are taking as a percent of their available forces.

You have to wonder how difficult it actually is to train terrorists in the kind of numbers that it would take to make a dent in the world, and how many of them are currently concentrated in Iraq right now to stop the democratization. With round the clock satellite surveillance, training and supplying reinforcements in sufficient number must be very hard and expensive.

I think this amounts to Egypt sending in 900 reinforcements to Iraq.

If you link this bit of news to the comments of Khomeini's grandson today, there are a whole lot of hardliners that must be getting awfully nervous right now. You can count the House of Saud in that number as well.

The government of Egypt is not really interested in justice. It is interested, however, in its own power and wealth. When the Islamicists leave it alone, they let them rant against Israel and the west. If they want to run bombs into Gaza, they don't care. If they want to send bombers to NYC (see the first WTC attack), they don't care very much.

When on the other hand they directly attack the *Egyptian* government - as they did when they killed Sadat - the government throws 10,000 of them in jail and tortures them for 10 years. When they attack tourists inside Egypt, they threaten state revenue and for that, 10,000 of them go to jail for 5 years, in conditions that are merely unpleasant.

It is one racket keeping on top of another would be racket. The reason the government passes for "moderate" and "rationalist" is because they are unscrupulous goons without a principle in the world, totally devoted to their own power and wealth. Which gives them a certain predictability - they can be bought, for instance. The reason the Islamicists qualify as "extreme" is they can't be bought off.

All 900 of them? On what charges were they imprisoned, I wonder? I'd like to see a list for all 900. After all, it was the Egyptian goverment that imprisoned them. Not a government that I would trust to identify terrorists in the first place.

The same group that assassinated Sadat? What game is Mubarak playing? Is it appeasement of terrorism or bribery?

I don't think I'm being perverse in asking these questions, and I certainly wouldn't doubt that any of the 900 are folks who shouldn't be running around free. Nevertheless, there has to be more to this story.

These men murdered or helped plan the murder of 58 tourists in 1997. I recall reading that some were shot, while others were hauled from their bus and hacked to death with swords while their friends and family watched and waited for their turns to die.

Anybody who goes to the Middle East, especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia, is asking for trouble. Let's see how well the uncivilized people of the ME get along ON THIER OWN, without US tourist income. After they have shown that they can behave in a civilized manner for, say 30-40 years, they can call us.

"...and gained infamy for the murder of 58 tourists in the town of Luxor in 1997 by a faction opposed to the cease-fire."

As you pointed out.........these bloodthirsty a**holes didn't just shoot these poor tourists; they committed unspeakable atrocities upon them, and these innocent visitors to that God-forsaken country died horrible deaths.

.....and the government there decides to call "allie-allie-outs-in-free" because their leaders by golly gee whillakers just SWEAR they don't want to hurt anyone any more.

God forgive me for how I hate the Middle East 'culture'. They're swine.

"I will be glad to get past Ramadan. With the eclipses and all it makes sense to me that they will go for the full mahdi. If something bad is about to go down you can bet that bill clinton will be out of the country."

Bill Clinton will be hiding out in Australia like he was on 9/11/2001. Hillary will be Canada.

"All 900 of them? On what charges were they imprisoned, I wonder? I'd like to see a list for all 900. After all, it was the Egyptian goverment that imprisoned them. Not a government that I would trust to identify terrorists in the first place."

Normally I would agree with you. However, this group apparently had its hands in a number of attacks on tourists and had a plan to kill Sadat, so I would guess there are quite a few of them. The article refers to another 5,000 having been released, so it looks like these 900 are somehow the core of the group.

I guess a much better headline might have been "Egypt releases 5900 terrorists".

"This shows the Egyptian government is sure now there is no threat of problems from the group. They are sure of its transformation from violence to a political group," said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamic militant groups at the Cairo-based al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

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